Although interacting with employers and colleagues face to face is an excellent way to make connections and find out about job opportunities, social media has become another excellent, fun and time-saving way to connect with people who may be able to hire you or lead you to other professional options.
LinkedIn is likely to be the most fruitful of the social media for professional job seekers. Recruiters and hiring managers admit openly that they use LinkedIn to look for possible candidates. In order to “be found,” you need to have a profile which attracts their attention. Unlike a resume, you open an account (it’s free) in which you describe your background, skills, experience, education and activities. Be sure to use position-related keywords in your profile so that your profile will be easier to find when someone uses the LinkedIn search. Consult some of the other profiles already listed to see what you think works well and how you’d like to do yours. Do a search for your job to see how high your profile ranks vs. others in the same field and edit accordingly. You may want to consult a professional such as a career coach, resume writer or someone else who has experience in writing profiles.
Once your profile is posted, it will be easier for recruiters to find you. And, on the other hand, you can look for people in your field or in a field you are exploring, whom you can contact. You can also ask to “connect” with them. The more contacts you have, the greater your chances of making a contact that will be of use to you.
LinkedIn also features a “Jobs” section where you can view positions that are available. Just go to the Search box in the upper right-hand corner of your LinkedIn page, click on the down arrow and choose “Jobs.”
Twitter and Facebook
Although Twitter and Facebook are used less for professional contacts, there is an important caveat about the use of those tools. Because employers are more and more frequently checking candidates’ Facebook and Twitter pages to see what they can learn about their lifestyle and leisure-time behaviors, you need to be very careful about allusions (or photos) of drinking, drugs or explicit sexual behavior that show up on those pages.
